story of a mad scientist bent on destroying the world...but first he had to tell everyone about it through a transmitter that projected his voice into the sky. Two more serials with minor sci-fi trappings tried but failed to
excite audiences. THE JADE BOX (a Universal Studios serial about a cult searching for a box which contained the secret to invisibility) and KING OF THE WILD (a fair adventure in which the hero tried to clear himself of a murder charge, attempted to locate a fabulous diamond mine, and sought to avoid an ape-like manservant). They were nothing special, though. And the public wanted special. Only the musical-science fiction oddity JUST IMAGINE came
close. A POPSICLE GOES TO MARS Maureen O’Sullivan (before her role as everyone’s favorite
reason to be stranded in the jungle, in 1932‘s TARZAN THE APE MAN) played LN-18, in a view of 1980 where everyone had letters and numbers for names, babies came from vending machines, and we flew in our own personal airplanes on aerial highways—even stopping in mid-air for traffic lights. The story involved a man who, after having been frozen in
1930, was awakened in 1980 and had to adjust to the vast cultural changes. He even flew to Mars, where he discovered a race of humans who each had an identical twin—one good and the other evil.
The set of the futuristic New York— skyscrapers, multileveled
streets, suspension bridges—was built inside a large dirigible hangar, which still stands on the former El Toro Marine Base in Orange County, California. The imaginative sets and props were so impressive that clips from JUST IMAGINE were used in later films. (In 1936, the FLASH GORDONserial appropriated the rocket ship that was used to travel to Mars, as well as a giant, multi- armed Martian idol—complete with dancing girls.) Impressive,
but firmly planted in the mindset of 1930 (for example, prohibition was still enforced). The film, although dated, is worth watching for the young Maureen O’Sullivan, the sets, and looking back with nostalgia at a simpler time, 1980. Oops, I mean 1930.
REMAKES RESTRAIN RECOVERY
An important film of 1930 was the visionary BLOOD OF A POET, directed and written by the 38-year-old avant-garde Frenchman Jean Cocteau. A synopsis can’t do it justice. This was a celluloid poem of subconscious, surrealistic images that also resonated emotionally. When the neurotic poet sketches a face, for instance, the mouth moves. When he attempts to wipe away the mouth, it attaches itself to his hand. Finally, he transfers the mouth to a statue. What does it all mean? In his 1930 book “ Psychology and Literature”, C.G. Jung
JUST IMAGINE opened on January 29. A bizarre sci-fi musical with incredible futuristic sets, a trip to Mars, a frozen popsicle man, & babies from vending machines.
writes, “A great work of art is like a dream; for all its apparent obviousness it does not explain itself and is never unequivocal... It presents an image in much the same way as nature allows a plant to grow, and we must draw our own conclusions.” BLOOD OF A POET was critically acclaimed, but did not do well financially. In an attempt to lure people into theaters, widescreen films were released for the first time, like THE BIG TRAIL, with a young actor named John Wayne in his first starring role. (Critics claimed Wayne needed more experience as an actor, so he was doomed to B-westerns for the next ten years.) THE BIG TRAIL was a monumental achievement in filmmaking, worth seeing today, but the cost to install the expensive camera equipment in theaters was prohibitive. Widescreen would be abandoned until 1953, when THE ROBE, the first cinemascope film, was released. 595 films were released in 1930, but that’s a figure that should
FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND • SEP/OCT 2011 83
THE MYSTERIOUS DR. FU MANCHU. Tall, lean, & feline, with a brow like Shakespeare, & a face like Satan —I can divulge no more or at night a dacoit will creep through my window & slip a noose around my neck, or Fu Manchu will send a python, or a cobra, or put some sinister bacilli in the paper of a magazine I’m reading—hey!
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